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User blog:Jadelady/He/she or they? Pronoun confusion
As some of us, myself included, are confused to how we are supposed to write for characters that can be either male or female, and for supporting characters who can be either male or female, or are non-binary, this is an informal poll to vote on what pronouns you think should be used. Main characters - such as the captain in Across the Void, ''Your Character and the Matches in the ''Perfect Match series, and the leader of your crew in The Heist: Monaco - that can be either male or female. Supporting characters - such as Cameron from the High School Story series - who is non-binary, meaning Cameron doesn't identify as male or female specifically. Should we use "he/she" or "they", and subsequently "his/her" or "their"? Before the 1960s/1970s, we would use "he" (and "his") as a gender-neutral pronoun. After all, we are hu''man'' (and the term, hu''woman'', hasn't really caught on). Nowadays though, only using "he" is considered sexist, and "he/she" has increased in popularity. If you can use the word "they", that was encouraged; such as changing from singular to plural: instead of "Every lawyer should bring his briefcase" or "Every lawyer should bring his/her briefcase", it would be changed to "All lawyers should bring their briefcases." However, if we're writing synopses or character briefs, we can't change a character to "plural". There are also the genderqueer non-binary pronouns: ze/hir, as well as "Mx" to replace "Mr./Ms." - but I think we'll be more confused using those terms? The Associated Press Stylebook updated the guide to include the use of “they” as a non-binary singular pronoun. So, we can use "they" instead of he/she. Sometimes the two gendered pronouns are combined in writing as “s/he” or “(s)he.” However, having a large number of these spellings in the paper can be distracting. This is particularly true if the author then goes on to write “his/her” and “him/herself.” Having many slashes can give the paper a messy look. Both APA and The Chicago Manual of Style specifically caution writers to avoid such spellings, and APA recommends avoiding other strategies like choosing a pronoun arbitrarily or alternating between them sentence by sentence. So... what looks better? an example from Harley's page: "They view your character and your allies as hypocrites for wanting to implant the safety function on Matches because they view it as still being under someone's control. They are also self-centered given that they state they don't give a rat's ass about what happens to the other Matches and views themselves as an equal to Rowan and Cecile." or "He/she views your character and your allies as hypocrites for wanting to implant the safety function on Matches because he/she views it as still being under someone's control. He/she are also self-centered given that he/she states he/she doesn't give a rat's ass about what happens to the other Matches and views himself/herself as an equal to Rowan and Cecile." or should we just use their names all the time... "Harley views your character and your allies as hypocrites for wanting to implant the safety function on Matches because Harley views it as still being under someone's control. Harley is also self-centered given that Harley states, "I don't give a rat's ass about what happens to the other Matches," and views Harley as an equal to Rowan and Cecile." ? Thoughts? Category:Blog posts